E-Strategy

ITU recently launched a new and broader framework for collaboration in building trust and secure infrastructure in developing countries through a Memorandum of Understanding called World e-Trust. This multilateral framework is intended to attract more actors and to enable developing countries to work hand-in-hand with technology providers in order to play a more active role in building the global information society and in creating digital opportunities.

The E-Strategy Unit of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) makes available secure and low-cost solutions from a consortium of providers of public key infrastructure (PKI), enabling developing countries to establish infrastructure for digital certification and value-added e-services. In-kind contribution of more than USD 10 million from WISeKey and its industry partners and more than 16 months of technology and application development have helped evolve appropriate solutions for the particular needs of the participating developing countries.

The Corporación Ecuatoriana de Comercio Electrónico (Corpece), an Ecuadorian enterprise based in Quito, is one of the early beneficiaries of this effort. Along with industry partners, the enterprise has benefited from digital certification and value-added e-services and training, and is now authorized to issue digital certificates to national entities wishing to conduct various forms of electronic transactions. Similar projects involving a variety of entities are being deployed in a number of countries.

Turkey’s World Trade Centre in Ankara, for example, is due to be authorized to issue digital certificates. Trade associations and chambers of commerce such as Burkina Faso’s Chambre de commerce, d’industrie et d’artisanat (CCIA) and Côte d’Ivoire’s Association pour la promotion des exportations (APEX-CI) have reached different stages of delivering e-services based on digital certificates.

In Cambodia, funding from the Swiss Federal Office for Communications (OFCOM), the Swiss telecommunications regulator, has enabled the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications to install hardware and software and is awaiting the training and audit needed prior to rolling out the service. Telecommunication operators, such as Mali’s SOTELMA, Peru’s LimaTel and Senegal’s Sonatel, also see PKI infrastructure as an addition to their portfolio.

A secure and robust infrastructure is fundamental to building confidence in the use of public networks for the delivery of value-added e-services. More than 100 developing and least developed countries have requested the assistance of ITU in deploying such infrastructure. Four least developed countries (Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Mali and Senegal) are amongst the first twelve nations scheduled to have operational infrastructure for digital certification and value-added e-services.

Through its Electronic Commerce in Developing Countries (EC-DC) venture launched in March 1998, ITU has played a key role in the on-going deployment of PKI technology in more than ten countries involving many organizations. These include telecommunication operators, ministries, chambers of commerce, regulatory agencies, Internet service providers, trade associations and federations, World Trade Centres, non-governmental organizations (NGO) and financial institutions.

ITU/BDT together with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), as well as African women entrepreneurs worked hand-in-hand to define strategies for mainstreaming women and their concerns in information and communication technologies.

ITU works in partnership with WTC Geneva, WISeKey SA and many private sector companies to build e-transaction infrastructures and create other IP-based e-services (such as e-commerce, e-government and e-marketplace). By way of an example, ITU and WISeKey tested and launched a PKI-enabled secure B2B portal in May 2001. One of the early beneficiaries of this e-marketplace will be EPZDA Mauritius. National operations providing e-payments and secure e-transactions, funded by both public and private sectors, have also been launched in Brazil, Morocco, South Africa and Venezuela.

Thanks to ITU, several developing countries have, for the first time, become actively involved in deploying services aimed at building security and trust (using digital certification, digital signatures) and extending beyond commercial applications to societal ones such as health, business, education and government.

The possibility of transmitting voice over IP-based networks, with all its challenges and opportunities, is a milestone in technology convergence. Following the ITU World Telecommunication Policy Forum on IP Telephony in March 2001, BDT has received several requests to assist developing countries in mapping the path from circuit-switched to IP and multi-protocol networking. In response to the concerns and needs of developing countries, ITU has advised and assisted on the technical, socio-economic and policy issues pertaining to the introduction of IP Telephony (see http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/e-strategy/internet/iptelephony). Mauritania’s Secrétariat d’Etat en nouvelles technologies (SENT) has adopted the recommendations of ITU/BDT for its ICT policy with a view to developing IP-based local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN) and telephony for its e-government project — a model being considered by Burkina Faso as well.

In Cameroon, technical and financial assistance was provided to the Association pour le soutien et l’appui à la femme entrepreneur (ASAFE) based in Douala to obtain a high-speed IP wireless connection to the national backbone. Technical assistance was provided to Sotel, the national operator in Chad, and to Gamtel, Gambia’s telecommunication operator, to exploit the potential of IP for Internet, intranet, extranet and telephony applications. Technical assistance and training was provided in IP networking to Costa Rica, using modern planning tools provided by NTT Comware. In partnership with UNDP, ITU/BDT is exploring ways of implementing Internet nodes and a national IP backbone in Congo-Brazzaville. SOTELMA is receiving assistance in implementing Internet remote access. Technical assistance is being provided to Rwanda’s education network (RwEDnet) under the “Imfundo” project supported by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development.

(ITU 020064) An agreement with WISeKey and its industry partners and trade communities of the World Trade Centres to expand secure e-transactions in 100 developing countries has attracted several leading technology providers

(ITU 020065)

Other projects in progress scheduled to be operational in 2002 include: Bulgaria’s project to enhance government services through e-government, Cuba’s Empresa de Servicios Informáticos de Santiago de Cuba (ESI Stgo), the Islamic Republic of Iran’s E-commerce project for D-8 Members (Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey) and Pakistan’s Sysnet (Telecommunications and Networking Systems Integrator).

Partnerships are critical for the development of sustainable, cost-effective service-based e-applications and secure transaction technology. ITU has signed three agreements so far:

• Fundandina: This partnership led to an operational electronic commerce centre in Venezuela, generated new alliances with other major players from the Latin American region, several operational ICT projects, a centre for training and development providing ICT training and more than 90 Internet portals (http://www.fundandina.org).

• WISeKey and World Trade Centre: An agreement with WISeKey and its industry partners and trade communities of the World Trade Centres to expand secure e-transactions in 100 developing countries has attracted several leading technology providers, who have contributed software, hardware, services and consultancy to develop public key infrastructure, applications and services in several developing and least developed countries worldwide.

• Goodwin Procter LLP: Free legal assistance is provided to ITU Member States who request it to establish the legislative framework for e-services. The Washington-based law firm evaluates existing laws and subsequently proposes changes to enable secure e-transactions to take hold. Governments and legislators then make the necessary amendments and enact the new laws. Through an agreement with Goodwin Procter LLP, ITU has assisted countries such as Mongolia to establish a legislative framework for e-services.

 

Contributed by Alexander Ntoko, Head, E-Strategy Unit, ITU/BDT.